Leaping out of Water
Wu-wei, animate consciousness, right hemisphere, and an alternative worldview.
*This is a longer newsletter than usual, and will take you about 10 minutes to read. So feel free to skip it if you’re not into philosophy/cogsci/worldview and all that stuff :)
Like fish that don’t realize they’re swimming in water because it’s all they know, we tend to assume that our worldview simply describes the world the way it is, rather than recognizing it’s a constructed lens that shapes our thoughts and ideas into certain preconditioned patterns.
— Jeremy Lent, The Web of Meaning
Our biological evolution, driven by selfish genes, allowed us to build a complex civilization, invent technology, and create the spectacular modern world. Market forces of capitalism furthered the progress by letting people become entrepreneurs, which made all of us better off. Sure there are problems such as climate change and global poverty, but we’ve been making progress, and technology will eventually solve everything…
… And such is the predominant worldview.
Under this worldview, we value reason, ambition, competition, productivity, freedom, and power. We take those foundational blocks of modern society for granted, and hardly ever question why do we value them in the first place.
But far from being based on solid facts or laws of nature, this worldview and the values it engendered were formed by a small group of European men in the 17th century, and further developed by other European men in the centuries that followed (Lent, 3). It’s true that this worldview has laid the foundation of modern sciences and allowed for the technology achievement of today. But it has also caused the devastation of non-European peoples and cultures, the destruction of natural world, and is now threatening the very survival of our civilization, and Earth itself (Lent, 27).
Now you may say that yes, we’re all realizing that the world is heading towards catastrophe, but society as a whole is taking corrective initiatives and making incremental improvements to steer our civilization on another course. But that’s not enough if we don’t reimagine, or at least question, the faulty foundation that had brought us to this place. We don’t think that the ideas so entrenched in popular thinking might be erroneous from the core.
In this and possibly the next few newsletters, I will introduce an alternative worldview that we can adopt that could redirect human civilization onto a very different trajectory. This worldview is suggested by Jeremy Lent in his new book The Web of Meaning, in which he lays out a framework for an alternative worldview that could foster humanity’s long-term flourishing on a healthy planet. He does so by integrating scientific findings from cognitive neuroscience, evolutionary biology, physics, with wisdom from Buddhism and Daoism, among other traditional schools of thoughts. There’s a LOT of content, but I’ll attempt to highlight the few key points, starting with the notion of wu-wei.
![Hits and introductions of "Wu Wei" Chantylao - KKBOX](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!KPeo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22cbefe6-11ec-4cf3-97cf-ea57c459fa19_300x300 "Hits and introductions of "Wu Wei" Chantylao - KKBOX")
Wu-wei is one of Daoism’s (or Taoism) most important concepts. It translates literally from Chinese into “non-action”, or “doing nothing”. This is considered to be the noblest kind of action, and is at the heart of following the Dao — “the Way”. In contrast, you-wei (“having-action”), referring to intentional action, is the antithesis of living according to the Dao.
“The world is a spirit vessel which cannot be acted upon. One who acts on it fails, one who holds on to it loses” (from Daoism’s central text — Dao De Jing).
Before you deem this as too spiritual to be your thing, or think that the Chinese were preaching for laziness and passivity instead of intellectual thinking and effortful action, read on so that I can clarify what exactly a wu-wei state is and is not.
What wu-wei is not, is the Western Romantic notion of simply ‘letting yourself go’, being on autopilot, or acting spontaneously on your emotions. Rather, it’s the state where we integrate automatic action with conscious attention. “It’s the result of the disciplined cultivation of the connections between the ‘I’ and the ‘self’, so that your entire organism is harmonizing both within and with the environment” (Lent, p.26).
Wu-wei:
An effortless state of being.
Animals, plants, and other living beings are in a wu-wei state. They flow with the Tao, the way of nature.
Humans can occasionally act according to wu-wei. Such is the state of flow*.
*Flow: A mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by the complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting transformation in one's sense of time. (Wikipedia)
You-wei:
Language-based, rational, goal-oriented thinking. (“The Tao that can be spoken of is not the true Tao.”)
Ambition, competition, hierarchy
Artifice, technology
Basically the entire modern human civilization.
Yep, you read that last part right. According to the Dao, modern humans have separated themselves from the natural flow of the Dao, and are in disharmony with nature. If we continue to ignore wu-wei values, we will end up destroying ourselves and the planet. Now, you probably want to dismiss this 2400+ years old ancient Chinese philosophy as just another apocalyptic prophecy (the most ancient version of “2012”, maybe), or deem it as something that has no more value in today’s world. But evidence from diverse fields of science is emerging to validate and support this worldview. They’re not condemning modern civilization and arguing that we should go back to the Paleolithic era, where we were indeed in a state of wu-wei, as we lived in flow with the nature. Rather, they aim to make us recognize what we think of ourselves and the world was shaped by some historical events, and that they could really be different. Ultimately, they help answer the questions “how did we get here?” and, “what are we really?”
Our Split Cognition - Conceptual vs Animate
If someone asks “where in your body do you think your mind is?”, you would likely answer that it’s your head. If someone thinks that their mind is in their heart, you would think that they are crazy for mixing reason with emotions. Either they are helpless romantics, or they’re lazy thinkers who let their emotions dictate their action rather than engaging in reasoning.
But in contrast with the European tradition, the Chinese and Japanese saw no essential distinction between reason and emotion (Lent, 76). If you were to ask the same question to a Chinese or Japanese, they will likely point to their heart. In fact, in both languages, the word for mind is the same as for heart. Now, the debate isn’t on whether the mind is physically located in the brain or the heart… but this reveals that the type of consciousness that we are used to identify ourselves with is shaped by our culture, and is not the only type of cognition.
In the European thought, our sense of human identity is centered around what he calls our conceptual consciousness. This is the type of consciousness that allows us to reason. I think, therefore I am. But Lent argues that this rational part of our mind is just the visible tip of the iceberg of our intelligence, with most of it hidden deep below the surface. Animate consciousness, which covers the whole array of experiences that humans share with other mammals, makes up the bulk of this iceberg.
Conceptual consciousness
Uniquely human cognitive functions: reasoning, planning, goal-orientation, interpretation, etc.
Allows you to drive cars, learn math, read books.
Animate consciousness
Highly complex.
Exists all around us, in every sentient being.
Intuition, feelings, subjective experiences.
ex.: when you experience a complex feeling but cannot express it with words.
I feel, therefore I am.
Lent argues that, while conceptual consciousness has enabled civilization, it also caused us to be separated from the effortless behavior of wu-wei (Lent, 29). Take language as an example. Language does not equal to reality — it is an abstraction that we constructed to designate real things. There is nothing wrong with abstractions, but if we rely solely on conceptual consciousness to make sense of things, we lose touch with reality — we get disillusioned from the ideas that we form about ourselves and the world.
Daoism, among other schools of thoughts, is not opposed to reason and intellectual thought, but “it recognizes the tendency to become so wrapped up in concepts that we begin to believe they are reality itself, rather than models of reality” (Lent, 75).
But is there any scientific evidence for this divergence of cognition? Is it even possible to perceive the world without reasoning, or interpreting the patterns? Is that even desirable? Let’s shift gears to neuroscience for a bit.
Wu-wei and PFC
The area in our brain that allows us to think and act in ways that other animals don't — such as planning, conceptualizing, and making abstract rules, is called the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC). Anatomically, our advanced evolution of the PFC led us to develop language, culture, and civilization.
Originally, like other animals, our PFC was relatively undifferentiated. But as we developed language and other capabilities like planning, goal orientation, self-control, categorization, the brain had to evolve anatomically. For one, the size had to increase. For two, some functions already there had to take up less territory. And thus, the right hemisphere remained responsible for the traditional PFC functions, while letting the left hemisphere expand to 29% of the cerebral cortex. As a result, we were able to evolve the uniquely human capabilities which led us to develop complex language, culture, and civilization (Lent, 23). Let’s take a closer look at the role of each hemisphere.
Left PFC
Responsible for language, goal orientation, self-control, categorization.
Acts as the Interpreter: make causal connections, whether or not they are true, about every aspect of our lives. In other words, comes up with a story to make everything comprehensible.
Allows us to develop a concept of ourselves as a separate self, with a past and future.
Fabricate stories of our future that produces goal-orientation and self-control.
Ex.: You stop yourself before making some impulse purchase as your left hemisphere constructs in your mind the scenario of you being broke and remorseful at the end of the month.
(Conceptual consciousness)
(You-wei)
Right PFC
Focuses on the connections and spatial patterns between things.
Unlike the left hemisphere, it accepts an incomplete or ambiguous situation without trying to impose coherent meaning on it.
Closely connected with internal bodily experience, makes one’s perception of the world more vibrant, filled with smell, sound, and sensation.
(Animate consciousness)
(wu-wei)
If you had a lesion in your left hemisphere, and can only perceive the world with your right PFC, then you would be experiencing you present experiences as if you were unaware of the past and future implications. How would that feel like?
Neuroscientist Bolte Taylor, who recovered from a stroke in her left hemisphere, went through exactly this experience, and documented important insights of the two hemispheres. The left hemisphere cares about details, and more details, “it looks at a flower and names the different parts making up the whole... The right mind, by contrast, creates a master collage of what this moment in time looks like, sounds like, tastes like, smells like, and feels like... It identifies our similarities and recognizes our relationship with this marvelous planet... how everything is related, and how we all join together to make up the whole” (Bolte Taylor in Lent, 25).
This sounds exactly like the wu-wei state, or when we are using our animate consciousness!
Now we see some connections. It seems like we have two camps.
CAMP A: Animate consciousness, right hemisphere, wu-wei
CAMP B: Conceptual consciousness, left hemisphere, you-wei
So who’s winning this battle? Should you lesion your left hemisphere to be in flow with the Dao???
Based on the current state of our civilization — a society that values power, competition, systematic and linear thinking, it seems clear that Camp B, the “rational one”, had won hands down. But it is also leading us towards a bad direction… Fortunately, Lent says that we don't have to choose between our left and right hemisphere, conceptual and animate cognition, you-wei and wu-wei, civilization and the Dao. It is possible to integrate these seemingly opposing forces/cognition into one coherent whole. If we could just shift our worldview, we will have a way out.
More on the “how” part in the upcoming newsletter(s) 👋
LENT, J. E. R. E. M. Y. (2022). In Web of meaning: Integrating science and traditional wisdom to find our place in the... universe (p. 3). essay, PROFILE BOOKS LTD.
Congratulations on reading till the very end! You deserve a cookie 🍪
Favourites of the Week:
Book: It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover - I seldom read fiction but the reviews of this book intrigued me. And it did not disappoint. This is a book that grows in you and changes you.
Tool: Discovered Obsidian which changed the writing and note-taking game for me. Never thought I’d say goodbye to Notion!
Have a great weekend!
Ingrid
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